Retina scan to become cheaper with MII Retcam app

MUMBAI: The ophthalmologist takes out her phone and clamps what looks like a shower-head to the device. But in place of the water spout, there’s a big lens, which is now exactly aligned with that of the phone’s camera. She taps the MII Retcam app, angles the contraption so that it provides a clear view of the patient’s eye and takes a picture. One retinal scan done.

The MII Retcam has been developed by a team led by Ashish Sharma, a retina specialist in the southern Indian textile town of Coimbatore, and will be ready for commercial launch next month at Rs 20,000 for ophthalmologists and Rs 15,000 for medical schools. That compares with the price of retinal scan machines currently in the market ranging from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 1 crore, depending on features and specifications.

The device offers the prospect of drastically lowering the cost of such scans, which are a crucial element of diabetes management. Apart from exacerbating cardiac risks, diabetes can also cause severe damage to the kidneys and the eyes — hence the need for regular monitoring. Besides, the number of people needing these checks is set to increase exponentially given India’s diabetes epidemic. Lancet said recently that India ranks at no 1 for male deaths from diabetes. The International Diabetes Federation has estimated that India will have 101 million patients with the disease by 2030, up from 61 million in 2011.

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Sharma explained the role he hopes his device will play in ensuring that millions of people aren’t at potential risk of losing their eyes because of diabetes-related retinopathy. “The MII Retcam bridges the gap between the general ophthalmologists, diabetologists and retina specialists by easy sharing of images and quick consultation leading to prevent millions of people going blind with the disease in a cost effective manner,” said Sharma. After practicing for three years in the US, Sharma returned to India in 2009 with the desire to build a device that was cheap, could shoot high-quality images and be portable enough for use in remote areas. Besides being light and increasingly ubiquitous, Sharma realised the smartphone camera’s autofocus capabilities give it a distinct edge over comparable devices.

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The device that he and the team came up with is capable of taking images of the retina in the kind of detail that’s needed to check for damage. It’s also suitable for use in India’s villages, which lack medical infrastructure and are grossly under-served, Sharma told ET. The device is to be presented at the American Society of Retina Specialists at its annual meeting in August in San Francisco, Sharma said.

The device weighs about 100 grams and if plans go ahead as scheduled, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may launch the device as a model for the high-profile Make in India campaign. (The MII in the name stands for the local-manufacturing initiative) The machines used to scan retinas currently in most hospitals are made by Zeiss, Topcon, Canon or Nidek, said Sharma, who is retina specialist at Lotus Eye Hospital and Institute in Coimbatore.